BERESHITH (GENESIS) 47

Gen 47:1 Then Yosĕph went and spoke to Pharaoh, and said, “My father and
my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come
from the land of Kena‛an. And see, they are in the land of Goshen.”
Gen 47:2 And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them
to Pharaoh.
Gen 47:3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And
they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our
fathers.”
Gen 47:4 And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land,
because there is no pasture for your servant’s flocks, for the scarcity of food
is severe in the land of Kena‛an. And now, please let your servants dwell in
the land of Goshen.”
Gen 47:5 And Pharaoh spoke to Yosĕph, saying, “Your father and your
brothers have come to you.
Gen 47:6 “The land of Mitsrayim is before you. Settle your father and
brothers in the best of the land, let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if
you know of capable men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over
my livestock.”
Gen 47:7 And Yosĕph brought in his father Ya‛aqoḇ and set him before
Pharaoh. And Ya‛aqoḇ blessed Pharaoh.
Gen 47:8 And Pharaoh said to Ya‛aqoḇ, “How old are you?”
Gen 47:9 And Ya‛aqoḇ said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my
sojournings are one hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the
days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years
of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”
Gen 47:10 And Ya‛aqoḇ blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before
Pharaoh.
Gen 47:11 So Yosĕph settled his father and his brothers, and gave them a
possession in the land of Mitsrayim, in the best of the land, in the land of
Ra‛meses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
Gen 47:12 And Yosĕph provided his father, and his brothers, and all his
father’s household with bread for the mouth of the little ones.
Gen 47:13 Now there was no bread in all the land, because the scarcity of
food was very severe, and the land of Mitsrayim and all the land of Kena‛an
became exhausted from the scarcity of food.
Gen 47:14 And Yosĕph gathered up all the silver that was found in the land
of Mitsrayim and in the land of Kena‛an, for the grain which they bought. And
Yosĕph brought the silver into Pharaoh’s house.
Gen 47:15 And when the silver was all spent in the land of Mitsrayim and in
the land of Kena‛an, all the Mitsrites came to Yosĕph and said, “Give us
bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the silver is gone!”
Gen 47:16 And Yosĕph said, “Give your livestock, and I give you bread for
your livestock, if the silver is gone.”
Gen 47:17 So they brought their livestock to Yosĕph, and Yosĕph gave them
bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks they owned, and for the
herds they owned, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in
exchange for all their livestock that year.
Gen 47:18 And when that year had ended, they came to him the next year and
said to him, “We do not hide from my master that our silver is all spent, and
my master also has the livestock we owned. There has not any been left
before my master but our bodies and our lands.
Gen 47:19 “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land?
Buy us and our land for bread, and let us and our land be servants of
Pharaoh. And give us seed, and let us live and not die, and let the land not lie
waste.”
Gen 47:20 And Yosĕph bought the entire land of Mitsrayim for Pharaoh,
because every man of the Mitsrites sold his field, because the scarcity of
food was severe upon them. And the land came to be Pharaoh’s.
Gen 47:21 And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one
end of the borders of Mitsrayim to the other end.
Gen 47:22 Only the ground of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had
portions allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their portions which
Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their ground.
Gen 47:23 And Yosĕph said to the people, “Look, I have bought you and
your land today for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow
the land.
Gen 47:24 “And it shall be that in the harvest you shall give one-fifth to
Pharaoh. And four-fifths is your own, as seed for the field and for your food,
for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”
Gen 47:25 And they said, “You have saved our lives. Let us find favour in
the eyes of my master, and we shall become Pharaoh’s servants.”
Gen 47:26 And Yosĕph made it a law over the land of Mitsrayim to this day,
that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the ground of the priests only,
which did not become Pharaoh’s.
Gen 47:27 And Yisra’ĕl dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim, in the land of
Goshen. And they had possessions there and bore fruit and increased
exceedingly.
Gen 47:28 And Ya‛aqoḇ lived in the land of Mitsrayim seventeen years. So
the length of Ya‛aqoḇ’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.
Gen 47:29 And the time for Yisra’ĕl to die drew near, and he called his son
Yosĕph and said to him, “Now if I have found favour in your eyes, please put
your hand under my thigh, and show kindness and truth to me. Please do not
bury me in Mitsrayim,
Gen 47:30 but I shall lie with my fathers, and you shall take me up out of
Mitsrayim and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I do as you have
said.”
Gen 47:31 And he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him, and Yisra’ĕl
bowed himself on the head of the bed.